Worried for Naught
Our school is in our third and final year of learning some very innovative strategies for teaching reading. I have learned a hundred times more about our language, our brains, about the learning process (and the teaching process) during these monthly inservices than in all four years of my over-priced private college education combined. And I majored in Education and minored in English.
So it should come as no surprise to you that I spent many hours of my evening last night berating myself for misspelling a word in an email to my principal. A stupid word. A simple word. The word 'busses'. I knew it didn't look right when I first typed it (and even now, blogger is red-lining it for me) but according to all the rules we've learned, the 's' should definitely be doubled and so I went with it. And then I spent all night thinking myself a fool. Worse than just sending an email to my principal with a misspelling was knowing that a) I teach spelling so, duh, and b) this email was going to be forwarded and I now looked like a fool amongst many instead of just by my boss. (by the way, blogger doesn't like 'amongst' either. Humph.)
This morning, upon arriving at school, I am so bothered by my stupidity that I find myself opening up dictionary.com to provide further admonishment and guilt. Only I find this:
HALLELUJAH!! I was so overcome with angels singing that I nearly cried out loud!! I wasn't a fool! It might not be the most common of the two spellings, but it is right there IN THE DICTIONARY. HA!
But then as the day wore on, I convinced myself that even if I was correct, perhaps my principal wouldn't know that was a correct option for the word, and would simply continue to think that I'm an idiot. Or the people that the message was forwarded to, namely, the people at the BUS GARAGE might surely know better and have a good laugh that one of the teachers in the district can't even spell bus in the plural sense correctly.
It wasn't until the end of my day, when I received and unrelated email back from my principal, in response to a thank you I sent her for some help she had provided me with that I truly exhaled and realized all was still well with the world and I would not be looking for a less grammar-driven profession. In her email, she wrote, "your welcome."
So it should come as no surprise to you that I spent many hours of my evening last night berating myself for misspelling a word in an email to my principal. A stupid word. A simple word. The word 'busses'. I knew it didn't look right when I first typed it (and even now, blogger is red-lining it for me) but according to all the rules we've learned, the 's' should definitely be doubled and so I went with it. And then I spent all night thinking myself a fool. Worse than just sending an email to my principal with a misspelling was knowing that a) I teach spelling so, duh, and b) this email was going to be forwarded and I now looked like a fool amongst many instead of just by my boss. (by the way, blogger doesn't like 'amongst' either. Humph.)
This morning, upon arriving at school, I am so bothered by my stupidity that I find myself opening up dictionary.com to provide further admonishment and guilt. Only I find this:
noun
1.
a large motor vehicle, having a long body, equipped withseats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part ofa scheduled service;
HALLELUJAH!! I was so overcome with angels singing that I nearly cried out loud!! I wasn't a fool! It might not be the most common of the two spellings, but it is right there IN THE DICTIONARY. HA!
But then as the day wore on, I convinced myself that even if I was correct, perhaps my principal wouldn't know that was a correct option for the word, and would simply continue to think that I'm an idiot. Or the people that the message was forwarded to, namely, the people at the BUS GARAGE might surely know better and have a good laugh that one of the teachers in the district can't even spell bus in the plural sense correctly.
It wasn't until the end of my day, when I received and unrelated email back from my principal, in response to a thank you I sent her for some help she had provided me with that I truly exhaled and realized all was still well with the world and I would not be looking for a less grammar-driven profession. In her email, she wrote, "your welcome."
Comments
Have you ever heard of the Alot?
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html